We commend the decision of the Basic Court in Podgorica which establishes temporary measure that orders the Parliament of Montenegro to return Goran Djurovic at the position of the RTCG Council member within eight days, until the judicial proceeding is completed, all in order to prevent consequences that cannot be compensated later on.

We have already pointed to the actions of the Parliament that resulted in the unlawful decision on dismissal of Goran Djurovic. The decision of the Basic Court brings back hope that judicial protection can be effective and that citizens can be protected from unlawful decisions of the Parliament. Decisions of MPs on individual rights shall be subject to the judicial protection, as the practice indicates that MPs are led solely by party directive instead of respecting the law when it comes to such rights. Citizens must be protected from such actions of MPs by the independent judiciary.

We expect the Parliament of Montenegro to act in line with the decision of the Basic Court and to return Goran Djurovic into the Council until the final decision. That would also be an important step in the process of setting previous unlawful acts of the Parliament of Montenegro towards Goran Djurovic and would contribute to stopping the discretisation of credibility of the highest legislative institution.

We express hope that in further procedure courts will be led by the principle of the protection of the rule of law in Montenegro and that they will be resistant to various political and other interests and influences.

Ana Novaković, Executive Director, Center for the Development of Non-Governmental Organisations (CDNGO)
Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director, Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Stevo Muk, President of the Governing Board, Institute Alternative (IA)
Zlatko Vujović, President of the Governing Board, Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI)

We commend an agreement that was reached yesterday on a meeting between representatives of the Government of Montenegro and RTCG, regarding signing of the Agreement on Provision of Public Broadcasting Services 2018-2020. 

However, the public has a right to objective information thus it needs to be specified that it is not a correct information which was published yesterday by Directorate for Media and Public Relation Service of the Government of Montenegro that ‘representatives of the Government headed by Minister of Culture Aleksandar Bogdanovic and representatives of Radio and Television of Montenegro headed by President of the Council Dr Vladimir Pavicevic fully agreed the text of the agreement and agreed to deliver the harmonised document to the Government under envisaged procedure as soon as possible’.

Only the Council of RTCG may give consent to the text of the agreement and everything that has been agreed upon has no substantial importance if it is not confirmed within formal bodies of RTCG and Government itself. Therefore, a fact remains that the said agreement is not signed even after several months, precisely as we have emphasized in our statement.

Government of Montenegro and its services should hold onto facts and not spread fake news, and instead of polemics with non-governmental organizations they should finally bring this job to the end and unblock all agreements affecting functionality of RTCG over which a pressure on RTCG is trying to be exerted. »

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The Government of Montenegro has, to a significant extent, generated problems that RTCG has been facing in the previous period, through institutional mechanisms at her disposal, thus demonstrating that it primarily protects the party interest, more precisely the interest of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), and not the public interest. 

Namely, the Government has been blocking signing of the Contract between the Government and RTCG on provision of public broadcasting services 2018-2020 for months, which is an obligation arisen by last amendments to the Law on Public Broadcasting Services of RTCG. This was followed by efforts of the Government to include obligations through that contract which are not imposed to any public service in democratic states by any similar contracts, by which the Government would also formally annul independence of the public service by overtaking the jurisdiction of the RTCG Council.

Furthermore, the Government refuses to adopt collective agreement of RTCG. The Ministry of Finance gave a positive opinion on the contract, which management of the RTCG has submitted to the Government for approval four months ago, however the Ministry of Culture does not want to suggest signing to the Government because allegedly the adoption of the new Labour Law is being awaited, for which nobody even knows when or whether it will be adopted in the Government of Montenegro. This explanation is unheard-of in the practice of arranged democratic states, since it leads to complete legal uncertainty thus undermining also foundations of the rule of law. »

At the request of numerous citizens who contacted the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) yesterday and today, we publish in a concise form the documentation sent to the competent authorities to initiate proceedings against Aleksandar Andrija Pejovic.

Enclosed evidence:

1. Excerpt from the Constitution of Montenegro
2. Decision of the Ministry of European Affairs UPI no. 03/1 -108/2 from 28/12/2017, in response to the Free Access to Information Request filed by the CCE on 19 December 2017, which contains accompanying Decision of the Parliament of Montenegro on determining the basic earnings of the Minister of European Affairs Aleksandar Andrija Pejović; payment sheets from January to November 2017; an extract of payment of rent by MEA for apartment of Aleksandar Andrija Pejović from February to June 2017; phone bills for the mobile phone used by Aleksandar Andrija Pejović and paid by MEA;
3. Solution on Special Benefits in addition to a Fixed Part of Salary of Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, no 03/3-831 from 5 May 2017, signed by the president of the Government Duško Marković based on the Decision on Establishing the Structure for Negotiations on Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union and the Decree on Special Benefits to Fixed Part of Salary, Special Fees and Other Incomes during Work in the Diplomatic-Consular Representative Offices; additional financial statement on incomes based on this Decision; Conclusion of the Government of Montenegro on the Decision Amending the Decision on Establishing the Structure for Negotiations on Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union from 10 March 2017, with the proposal of the mentioned document reviewed at the Government session held on 2 March 2017, and the final Decision (Official Gazette of Montenegro, no 9/19, 15/14 and 19/17); Decree on Special Benefits to Fixed Part of Salary, Special Fees and Other Incomes during Work in the Diplomatic-Consular Representative Offices (Official Gazette of Montenegro, no 55/13, 55/14, 32/16, 47/16, 5/17, 7/17); statement of assests of Aleksandar Andrija Pejović;
4. Excerpt from the interview of Aleksandar Andrija Pejović in the TV show „Direktno“, broadcasted on TV Vijesti, on 21 January 2018, in which he, as the only advantage of the Ambassador’s position, states that it allows him to stay in the Shengen zone in the extent necessary for him and to enter the country as a diplomat, although the diplomatic passport of all ministers and many others in Montenegro allows the same privileges which Pejović tells publicly and where he does not mention his additional income on the basis of this duty. In this show, he is misleading the public stating that a similar principle existed in Croatia and that it still exists in Serbia which is incorrect because in neither one of these countries a Chief negotiator was the  ambassador at the same time.
5. Official letter of the Anti-Corruption Agency, no 02-01-2832/2 from 1 November 2017, as a response to the CCE’s request to explain particular norms of the Anti-Corruption Law; Decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs UPI 0504-73/2 from 14 November 2017 with list of all ambassadors MFA has in its register, more precisely of all persons that have that status in accordance with Montenegrin legislation, where Aleksandar Andrija Pejović is listed, which makes it clear that MFA operates in accordance with the Law on Foreign Affairs, and it keeps records in accordance with this law;
6.  Excerpt from the Foreign Affairs Law, with provisions prescribing rights and obligations of diplomats and other employees of the Ministry or in the diplomatic-consular representative offices, taking into consideration that Pejović has a status of a diplomat, and receives second salary on the basis of his work in the diplomatic-consular representation;
7. Excerpts from the website of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) where it can be evidenced that Aleksandar Andrija Pejović is a member of the Main Board (under number 153), as well as official press releases of this party where it is clearly stated that Pejović is the President of the Commission for International Cooperation, European and Euro-Atlantic integrations.